Autumn
by Arara
Summary: Riku left his childhood friend, and with that, met him again with lessons learned. Rated M for vague description of yaoi encounter. C; Oneshot!


**A/N:** I got a new idea to write a Riku/Sora story and I thought I would just run with the thought. I've never written a oneshot before, so here is one that I dedicate to my awesome sister, Pudin Puddy! She wrote "Lawliet" by the way, and I thought that I could brighten her day with this story. This is also to all the Kingdom Hearts lovers out there who love Riku/Sora, too. (And, yes, there will be yaoi!) I love reviews, by they way. C:

* * *

Autumn

The splash of the water against his frail legs felt so good. It had been so long since he had gone to the ocean with Sora. He felt the ocean recede back into its depths, the sand between his toes fall back to the earth. When he heard the pitter-patter of sandals upon water near him, he swept his gaze over to a young boy with chocolate brown spikes for hair, tan-ish skin, and light blue eyes that contrasted against his skin. He couldn't help but smile at him. This was his best friend of all his eight years of life, Sora. And when Sora returned his smile with a heartfelt smile of his own, he felt the strings of his heart being pulled. This feeling of complete and utter bliss was what he would miss the most. And when that thought hit him, his heart thudded painfully behind his ribcage. His eyes burned and his vision started to blur. Sora always noticed when Riku's emotions changed; For the good and the bad and this, undoubtly, was one of those times. It was obvious that Sora tried to keep the smile on his face; he tried to keep up the façade that everything was going to be the same. And it wasn't. For the last time, Sora embraced him warmly and his familiar boyish scent infiltrated his senses in the sweetest way. Riku draped his arms around him as well and as the bright sun warmed the earth in kindest way, as the ocean rushed around his small feet, effervescent, yet comforting, and as Sora's arms tightened around his small frame, the world didn't hurt anymore. And for the second time that day, he felt a small smile tugging at his lips. It was all thanks to Sora. He couldn't forget that Sora made him remember how to smile.

* * *

The warm reds and oranges of the leaves in autumn rained upon the small suburbs of Riku's community every year. It became official nine years ago that autumn was Riku's favorite time of the year. It wasn't too cold, and it wasn't too hot. The air was never warm and muggy at the same time, like it could be in the spring. And the colors of the leaves were something to marvel at. It never failed that whenever Riku was having a bad day, he would sit in the park and watch the leaves fall from the trees.

The only thing he hated about autumn, (and to him, it was very minor) was the fact that he had to go to school. It wasn't that he hated school per say, but school took so much of his time, that if he even wanted to go to the park one day and watch the beautiful leaves, he couldn't. It always got too dark by then.

* * *

And when the first day of school came by, it began his fourth year of high school. The first three years of high school wasn't anything to be excited about. He tried out for the track team in his freshman year, half expecting not to make it because he couldn't really run. To his surprise, he made it on the team, and even by a landslide (according to Naminé, that is). While on the team, he met the team captain, Naminé, a petite girl with short blond hair and Caribbean eyes. She was very bubbly and cheerful and after a couple of days, Riku and Naminé became really good friends. In Riku's sophomore year, he joined the BETA club, a club for those with a 3.8 GPA and up. If anything, he was surprised he qualified. He met Kairi in that club, and became friends with her as well. He noted that she was quite the chatterbox but she did very well in giving speeches, being as she was outspoken. He liked that a lot about her. In his junior year, he dropped out of the track team (and Naminé was extremely upset about it) and continued on the path of excelling in his classes, mostly because he didn't want to be kicked out of the BETA club. By the end of his junior year, he dropped out of the BETA club. He realized the pressure was too much for him.

* * *

It was 3 months until the end of high school, and the pressure was built up upon Riku's back like a ton of bricks. The applications for the colleges he wanted to attend were long sent and in a couple of days acceptance letters (and letters stating one is denied) were coming and anxiety rose up in his heart.

"_Ah, Riku, you'll make it!"_

Naminé would always tell him that whenever she caught him like this. Sure, it was said to help, but it did anything but that.

"_Pssh, Riku, I never saw you as a nervous breakdown waiting to happen. Calm the hell down. You'll make it; you're smart as fuck!"_

Kairi had said this to him in different forms, mostly trying to be comical, and it helped a little more. But he needed something simpler than statements from his friends. He needed a warm, comforting smile.

* * *

To Riku's dismay, two out of the five applications he sent out had been graced with an acceptance letter. High school was now the thing of the past, but he couldn't help but feel that if he had done something different, he would have had more choices.

* * *

The first day of college was a bit nerve-racking, and as Riku made his way into his first class and sat in a random seat in the second row he couldn't help but feel out of place. There were many students in the class already and idle chatter filled the room. Who he assumed to be the teacher was in front of the room, a young woman with short auburn hair and catlike eyes. She glanced around the room, almost as like she were expecting something. One more student walked into the room and as Riku caught sight of him, his heart almost burst from his chest. The student's eyes were light blue contrasting against his sun-kissed skin. His hair was in dark brown spikes and an aura of warmth seemed to radiate from him. His face still screamed innocence, but it still had the mature features of an adult. He was about Riku's height now. And as their eyes met, everything else around him was forgotten. Even the chatter seemed to disappear.

And this boy smiled at him as he always did before.

* * *

"RIKU!"

As Riku got two steps out of the classroom, he was immediately run-hugged. He fell face first, his nose connecting full on to the floor, and he sighed. The pain of the fall was minimal to what he was feeling right now. The familiar boyish scent of Sora, his best friend, was all he smelt right now.

"Um, Sora, can you let me face you?" Riku said against the floor.

"Oh, uh, sorry."

Sora's weight on his back gradually moved and Riku spun himself around on the floor, facing Sora. Sky blue met Caribbean for a few moments before Riku was immediately embraced once more. Riku threw his arms around him as well and he could feel that familiar sting in his eyes.

* * *

"…So my mom thought that it was best for me to get a dorm and go to college here." Sora said, smiling gently at Riku, "and I'm happy that I listened to her." He gently squeezed Riku's hand for effect and the feeling of bliss wedged its way into his heart once more.

They were in Riku's dorm, sitting on his bed. Sora's head was comfortably on Riku's lap as he layed against the back board of the bed.

"I thought I'd never see you again," Riku whispered, still coming to the fact that Sora was here, on his lap, in his dorm. In front of him. He was really in front of him.

Sora graced that with a smile lingering on his lips. And Riku went down to capture it with his own.

* * *

If anyone told him he would be intimate with his best friend nine years ago, he wouldn't have believed it. But now, as warm skin brushed against warm skin, and labored breath matched labored breath, he couldn't imagine how it wouldn't have happen. Their heart beats were almost synchronized as Riku drove himself in and out of his formally best friend. And the sounds Sora was making was like a well strummed harp, a chorus of violins, a soft sounding flute...And as they got closer and closer to the apex of everything built between them, Riku couldn't help but to embrace Sora as if it were the last time they could be with each other. Sora must have felt it, because he embraced him in the same way. And as the imminent apex was approached, he could almost swear Sora's eyes were brimmed over with tears before he blacked out.

* * *

The memory of the last time he had seen Sora was imprinted well in his brain. At that time, Riku hadn't known what autumn was. But as Riku watched Sora sleep near him, he couldn't believe he never knew. Sora's hair was the color of the earth, his eyes were the color of the cloudless blue skies, and his lips were the reddened color of the leaves.

Sora, in every sense of the word, was the embodiment of autumn.

* * *

**A/N:** Oh, the fluff! Review, please? I love reviews. C:


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